Say It Isn’t So: John McCain Is Against Telecom Immunity

May 23, 2008 · Filed Under War on Terror

First he was against Gitmo, then torture, and now telecom immunity? Yep, it appears that John McCain is against giving immunity to the telecom industry for helping the NSA with it’s terrorist surveillance program after 9/11.

The Justice Department told the phone companies in writing that their country needed them and if they agreed to help they wouldn’t have to worry about any legal issues down the road.

We are now “down the road” and the far-left has teamed up with the thugs from the ACLU and filed lawsuits against the telecom companies. Without immunity these companies are left exposed to multi-million dollar judgments that could cripple them.

So it’s rather stunning what Chuck Fish, the McCain Campaign’s full-time lawyer, said about telecom amnesty if McCain wins the election.

“First, we need to be explicit we are not talking about granting indulgences,” Fish said, clarifying that he meant forgiveness must be matched with repentance.

“There would need to be hearings to find out what actually happened and what harms actually occurred,” Fish said, adding that immunity would need to be coupled with clear rules to make sure private records would be protected in future.

That is the same nutty position the Democrats are taking which is what’s holding passage of the FISA legislation. The Democrats want to air more national security secrets on C-Span and embarrass the Bush Administration by proving that some telecoms broke the law.

It doesn’t matter if they broke the law. They did what the government asked of them on the promise that they would be protected. So just like the Democrats, John McCain wants to damage the companies who’s help is critical in the fight against terrorism.

What company in their right mind would ever stick their neck out for the government in the future if this is how they’re treated?